The Tribune

By SALIMA HAUBER

It’s past lunchtime, and your 5:30 am workout and barely-filling, on-the-go breakfast has left you famished. Various options of delectable dishes flood your mind, and you can almost smell the tantalising aromas that will get your stomach churning. Before long, you breathe a deep sigh of satisfaction as you finally sit down to a mouthwatering serving of, drum roll please, a credit card – would you like fries with that?

I do not jest....well, maybe just a little. Studies and reviews of studies in recent years all agree that microplastics are widespread – in soils, oceans, and the air. Microplastics are tiny fragments of plastics smaller than 5mm in length, and they are becoming a part of our bodies through the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink. Microplastics have been found throughout the human body, including the blood, lungs, liver, and even the placenta. Of great concern to some researchers is that microplastics have managed to cross the blood-brain barrier and have been found to accumulate in the brain.

Plastics are a major part of modern-day life. Aside from the obvious, everyday uses of plastic as storage containers for liquids from beverages to cleaning products, plastics are used to fabricate some synthetic textiles like polyester, nylon and Spandex. Your favorite exfoliating facial scrub or toothpaste may have contained plastic microbeads up until 2015 when the US passed a law banning their use to protect natural bodies of water as their size enables them to evade treatment filtration systems.

Plastics have contributed to the accelerated advancements in many industries like medicine and engineering and are, as such, indispensable. But there are still many plastic products that we as a species and our planet can do without – for example, plastic straws, shopping bags, and single-use water bottles, which disintegrate over time into microplastics.

Some routes of exposure to microplastics may not surprise you. Our third-grade lesson on the food web allows us to easily conceive of eating microplastics. Phytoplankton are the foundation of the aquatic food web and ingest nano- and microplastics. Phytoplankton are then eaten by microscopic animals, which are eaten by small fish and crustaceans, which are eaten by larger fish, which we eat. With each step, the amount of microplastics consumed accumulates. I was particularly surprised to learn that we also inhale microplastics. Their incredibly small size makes them easily airborne, gaining access to our airways and, ultimately, lungs.

While the jury is still out, according to some scientists, on the extent of harm posed by microplastics, the negative impact on human health of some of the chemicals used to manufacture plastics has been documented.

Plastic components such as BPA and phthalates have been linked to numerous ailments, including infertility, asthma, and some cancers. One research review published last year revealed that due to their chemical leachates, exposure to nano- and microplastic particles in the environment both directly and indirectly exacerbates inflammation – which can increase the risk and severity of non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

Even though microplastics are ubiquitous, there are steps we, as consumers, can take to reduce our exposure. Avoid single-use plastic products like cups and utensils. Choose reusable cloth or paper shopping bags and glass or metal food containers even though culturally, their plastic counterparts are reused by the “toters” among us. Refill stainless steel or glass water bottles instead of buying single-serving plastic water bottles. Avoid or use less produce bags in grocery stores. Switch to loose-leaf tea, as many tea bags shed microplastics when exposed to heat. Opt for natural fiber clothing such as cotton, hemp, and linen over polyester and nylon as much as possible.

Because of widespread use across numerous industries, plastics, like diamonds, are forever. Even if international regulations prohibit the production of new plastics in the next decade, we will continue to be surrounded by microplastics for centuries to come. As we prepare to celebrate Earth Day this month, let’s be mindful of making choices that mitigate the impact of this omnipresent particle on our health and environment.

• Dr Selima Hauber, PhD, is the agricultural education and outreach officer at OEF and CTI. Established in 2012, the One Eleuthera Foundation (OEF) is a non-profit organisation located in Rock Sound, Eleuthera. For more information, visit www.oneeleuthera.org or email info@oneeleuthera. org. The Centre for Training and Innovation (CTI) is the first and only postsecondary, non-profit education and training institution and social enterprise on Eleuthera. CTI operates a student training campus in Rock Sound, Eleuthera, with a 16-room training hotel, restaurant and farm. For more information about CTI’s programmes, email: info@oneeleuthera.org.